The government has confirmed the closure of 27 factories employing disabled workers, saying the loss-making sites can no longer be subsidised.

Maria Miller, minister for disabled people, told MPs the £320m budget for disabled employment services could be spent more effectively in providing personal support to find mainstream work for ex-Remploy staff.

She also announced a further consultation on the future of nine other Remploy factories which have been the subject of bids.

Union sources said the 27 factories would close between August and mid-December.

Workers at Remploy's 54 factories are due to stage two 24-hour strikes in the coming weeks in protest at an announcement by the government earlier this year of closures.

The GMB union said closing the factories in the current economic climate condemned Remploy workers to a life of unemployment and poverty. It said the strikes would go ahead despite Tuesday's announcement.

The minister, who was heckled by opposition MPs during her statement to the Commons, said Remploy workers had been informed of the announcement on Tuesday afternoon.

"This is difficult news. We are doing everything we can to ensure that Remploy workers will receive a comprehensive package of support and guidance to make the transition from government-funded sheltered employment to mainstream jobs," said Miller.

The government announced in March that Remploy was planning to close 36 of its 54 factories, putting more than 1,700 jobs at risk.

The factories were established after the second world war to provide sheltered employment for disabled people.

Workers are employed in enterprises that vary from furniture and packaging manufacturing to recycling electrical appliances and operating CCTV systems and control rooms.

Only a few of the factories are believed to break even financially. The average subsidy for each job in the factories is £25,000.

Phil Davies, national officer of the GMB union, said: "To close these factories that employ disabled people in the present economic climate is a sentence to life of unemployment and poverty.

"The strikes will go ahead on 19 and 26 July as planned and should be a rallying point giving each local community the opportunity to stand behind these disabled workers who will be facing the scrapheap."

The government said money from the disability employment budget should be reinvested into other schemes to help disabled people find work.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "All disabled Remploy staff affected by the change will be guaranteed a package of tailored support to help with the transition; £8m is available for this support which includes a personal case worker with one-on-one sessions and access to a personal budget."

The move follows a review conducted by Liz Sayce, chief executive of Disability Rights UK, into the way in which the government spends its disability employment budget.

Her report, which was broadly supported by disability charities, recommended that the government funding should focus on support for individuals rather than subsidising factory businesses.